Ventura County high school exit exam scores hold steady

The percentage of local high school sophomores passing the high school exit exam was the same this year as last, according to results released by the state Thursday.

About 86 percent of the county’s sophomores passed the math portion of the California High School Exit Exam, with the same percentage passing the English part. Students must pass both parts to meet a state graduation requirement.

The percentage is slightly higher than that for the state — 84 percent of California sophomores passed the math section and 83 percent the English part.

Though sophomore scores held steady, state officials said Thursday nearly 96 percent of the state’s Class of 2013 passed the exit exam by the end of their senior year. That’s the highest rate since the exam became a graduation requirement in 2006.

“Despite the very real challenges of deep budget cuts and the ongoing effort to shift to new, more demanding academic standards, our schools persevered and students made progress,” said Tom Torlakson, state superintendent of public instruction.

The exit exam tests students on 10th-grade English and eighth-grade math skills, and students get multiple chances to take the tests.

Students take the exam for the first time as sophomores. If they fail it, they may take it again twice as juniors and up to five times as seniors.

The state doesn’t break down overall pass rates by county. But officials released scores for schools, districts and the county by grade level for each testing offered in the past school year.

The Oak Park Unified School District had some of the highest scores in the county this year. The state reported 99 percent of Oak Park sophomores passed the math portion of the exam this year. About 97 percent passed the English part.

In some years, virtually all of Oak Park Unified students have passed the exam when they took it for the first time in the 10th grade, Superintendent Tony Knight said. He credited the district’s instruction that is focused on state standards.

“If (the scores) were anything lower than that, we would be a little bit worried,” he said.

The 2013 exit exam results are preliminary, state officials said. Any updates will be available in the fall.